Reviews by PhillyStyle:

The beer was a deep orange color with a light, white head that dissipated quickly, but left a ring. The beer gave off a nice light rye and malty aroma with a hint of yeast/bready-ness to it. The taste of the beer was good; a nice light rye flavor with little to no hops to note, but it was not overly sweet. The beer had a moderate feel to it; the beer was smooth and very easy to drink. Overall, a good beer.

More User Reviews:

I am continuing to winnow down my backlog, especially of bottles. This one was either purchased at The Friendly Greek or dropped off by tone77, but those are really the only two possibilities.

From the bottle: "Layered"; "Crisp"; "HOSS is based on the Marzen lagers of Germany. Rich, layered malt notes, with hints of cherry and dark fruits, dominate, while the unique addition of rye imparts a slightly earthy, spicy character. Hoss finishes crisp and dry, and its brilliant red-orange color is a toast to the sunsets that make the perfect backdrop for this beer."; "Bronze Medal, Great American Beer Festival, 2009"; "Suggested Food Pairings: Veal bratwurst, barbecue chicken, carnitas (pork) tacos, Camembert cheese, German chocolate cake."

My initial, aggro pour created two fingers of dense, tawny head with moderate retention that created some great lacing as it fell. Color was a filament-bright deep-copper (SRM = > 13, < 17). Beautiful! Nose had a rich, malty scent, but I was not getting the fruitiness the label mentioned, at least, not on the nose. Mouthfeel was soft, slightly bubbly and now I did get a distinct cherry flavor on the tongue. Wild! The rye manifested itself on the dry finish, giving it an earthy balance to offset the malts. This was MUCH better than I anticipated and probably one of the best beers of the style that I have encountered. Great lacing formed as I drank through it. I would definitely be interested in having this beer again.

Pours a deep clear golden with some amber hues. Thin head and light lacing. Nose is malty with notes of spicy rye and neutral lager yeast. Some earthy grain notes as well. Flavor is subtle with rye malts coming forward and no hop character to speak of. A slight spiciness towards the end. Mouthfeel is light and moderately carbonated. Overall, decent flavors, well balanced, and easy drinking.

A: Pours a dark yet clear copper color. The head is a little over a finger high, with an off-white shade. Its texture is more fluffy than creamy, but it still retains well. Nice rings of lacing are left on the glass.

S: Primarily, the aroma is caramel with some spicy rye and a touch of earthen hops. Rye comes out even more as it warms up. There isn't a whole lot to the nose, but what's there is definitely serviceable.

T: The malt backbone is stronger here. It opens faintly spicy - think rye and Centennial hops - and ends with a pleasant caramel finish. Not just caramel, but even some chocolate. A twinge of hop bitterness returns on the aftertaste. At times, it has a mineral quality to it. It's not an intense beer per se, and I wouldn't have it any other way: the hop/malt balance is delicate and defined in all the right ways.

M: It's coarse and prickly, though not out-and-out sharp. For some reason, this seems to make the body thicker than it really is. Still, this is a nice and drinkable marzen that doesn't rely on overdone carbonation to achieve that.

O: It's hard to go wrong with this brewery, and it's hard to go wrong with this beer. The rye adds a nice dimension without overpowering it. There's little wow factor here, but I'll be damned if I don't say I'm craving another one of these.

This is an attractive and easy drinking beer. Although this is billed as a lager, it lacks the acidity and sourness associated with lagers, perhaps because of the rye. So far, the best beer I’ve had from Great Divide.

A nice change of pace,a rye marzen lager in mid spring.Poured into a .5 liter stein a brilliant amber/bronze with a clingy one finger head that settles into a creamy mass.Lighter aromas of caramel malt,dark fruit,with toast,and iron.Lighter mouthfeel but not watery,flavors of caramel and dark fruit mainly,the rye gives off a tang in the finish.Not a bad beer,maybe expected a little more, but its decent.

A: As the bottle says: red-orange. This color would fit in an autumnal collage brilliantly. Poured into my snifter, the 1/2 finger head is here and gone and leaves a spindly beige layer on top of the beer. The lacing is pretty interesting and sticky - somewhat surprising for a lager.

S: A bright, fruity, and grainy lager smell meets spicy rye. I smell some plum, cherry, and apple aromas with a bit of light pepper. This is a nice and inviting smell, which becomes heavier on the fruitiness and lighter on the grains as the beer warms.

T: I drank the majority of this beer at about 50-55 degrees and it is amazing how much more flavor was released at the warmer temperature. Huge notes of plum and cherry mingled with the rye spice to reveal a really tasty and big lager.

M: Hoss has a solid mouthfeel. The rye gives a good tingly feel to the sides of the palate as the light to medium carbonation massages my tongue.

D: This interesting beer is one of which I will consume more. I do not think I would have too many in one sitting, though, as the rye spice could overpower the palate.

A: This is a beautiful, medium copper with excellent clarity and an white head.

S: A medium-high rye spicy aroma dominates the smell with a moderate toasted malt aroma and some earthiness. There also seems to be a light spicy hop aroma but it wouldn't surprise me if I was mistaken.

T: The flavor is mostly toasted malt and rye spicy, earthiness. There is some malt sweetness and a decent hops bitterness with the balance favoring the bitterness. There is a bit of dark fruit and cherry flavors in there as well. It finishes dry and crisp with some bitterness and spice in the finish.

M: It is a smooth and creamy, medium bodied beer with a medium-light level of carbonation.

O: This is a very tasty beer makes me understand why Reinheitsgebot forbid the use of rye in Germany. A very flavorful, spicy and crisp beer.

Presentation: It was poured from a brown 12oz bottle into a mug. The label has a nice description of the beer as well as a "Bottled On" date of Mar 4 2010 and an ABV of 6.2%.

Appearance: Its body has a brilliant red color with a very slight haze. The head is nice and tall, about two fingers and off white in color. It is creamy and slow fading. A small cap hangs on till the very end and makes nice lace patterns on the way down the glass.

Smell: Right away I get lots of rye malty notes. Deeper into the aroma there are notes of fruity notes of ripe peaches, nectarines and black cherries.

Taste/Palate: The solid medium body has a very tasty bready rye malty character with some light toasted notes as well as hints of coco and fruity notes within. (It reminds me of chocolate cake with cherries for some reason.) The hops are also mixed in here and add there own spicy herbal character and mellow bitterness. It finishes up fairly quick, lingering for just a bit and setting up the next sip on a clean palate.

Notes: This beer drinks wonderfully and has some nice complexity but there is nothing about this beer that makes me think Marzen/Oktoberfest.

Drinkability: Wow. This is a very good marzen and is also in my top four of the style. I love how I can taste the advertised rye. I really like the way the bitterness and the maltiness come together. You can taste them separate, but they also blend. One of my favorites from a good brewery, this is kind of the opposite end of the spectrum from Brooklyn's version. Both excellent--a marzen that leaves me wanting more.

Pours a nice golden/amber color with a 1 finger fluffy white head. Quite a bit of bubbles with a bit of lacing. Nose is Crisp and light like a lager, with just a tiny hint of Rye. Subtle but nice. Light sulfer as well - I like this smell with lagers, reminds me of Prima Pils.

Very nice combination. There's a very good balance between the toastiness of the oktoberfest, as well as a nice rye bitterness. It tastes like there might be some Saaz or other noble ops here, it's very light an not over the top. Mouthfeel is perfect, full and rich without being too watery or carbonated.

One of my favorite beers, and sadly like Hop Rod Rye - It's not distributed in VT!

Hoss opens with a rich, malt-sweet and yeast-laden aroma, the beer smelling initially far more like rising bread dough than anything else. Closer inspection reveals complex layers of toast crust, brown sugar, wet wheat, and chocolate, with dollops of molasses and honey, as well as a faint rind of peppery rye. Mild fruit esters such as berry and apricot bring further nuance, but breads and grains easily win the attention. As a whole, the nose is good, the breads nicely countered by sugars and light fruits, with just enough peppery spice to be intriguing.

On the tongue, the beer opens with a surprisingly malty blast of molasses, yeasty dough, honey, wheat, brown sugar, and toast crust, with lovely sugary touches of apricot, white grape, berry, and orange, and a tantalizing peppery rye edge that grows slightly stronger as the beer is held on the tongue and the sugars die off. Hints of spicy grapefruit and pine from the hops add additional complexity, as do lightly toasted nuts. The aftertaste is largely a continuation of the main mouthful, but with heavier emphasis on peppery rye and toast crust. Mouthfeel is medium, and carbonation is medium.

Overall, this is solid fare, presenting a varied and finely tuned selection of flavors that balance each other nicely. The sugars are especially lovely in here, coming in a wide variety of flavors, and all of them blending well with the rye. Worth trying.

Minimal carbonation after the pour. The carbonation bubbles almost entirely disappate shortly thereafter. Beautiful copper red color and brilliant clarity. I smell the bready aroma of light malt and get a bit of the spicey rye notes. The mouthfeel is moderate and tickles the taste buds on the way down. The flavor is definitely typical of an Octoberfest with the clean,crisp flavor and malty, almost nutty flavor. The nice twist would be that nice spicey rye note.